- Tested on Switch 2.
- Code transmitted by the publisher.
- Home gameplay captures with a mix in photo mode and on the fly.
- Game time around 25-30h to date.
- Played a lot in solo and trial, a multi-local evening and not bad on-line in survival mode. I still have about twenty characters to unlock out of fifty.
- I didn't try 50 and 100 CC, only 150 CC.
New Mario Kart is always an event in itself. Released with the new Nintendo console, the game is the system seller that was predicted. And for good reason, despite its salty price, Switch 2 is sold as bread rolls, far exceeding the previous records held by Sony and its PS5. Behind its apparent similarity with Mario Kart 8 Released 8 years ago, World is a fake twin with a trompe l'oeil gameplay, much more daring than all the Mario Karts released so far. 3,2,1... we press the fungus and explain everything!
Roll your bump
The first observation, the game cajoles the retina compared to its predecessor. Mario Kart World presents itself as the standard of Switch 2. Dotted in docked mode and sublimated on the HDR screen in portable mode, the title is tasted whether you are a nomad or a casanier. Rounding of models, pimping colors, finer textures, dynamic lighting: so many successes that bear witness to the attention paid to the smallest detail. This is the signature of all major Nintendo productions since Breath of the Wild, step game for the small craftsman. World spins without tanning at 60 FPS up to two players. Beyond that, unfortunately the framerate drops to 30 FPS, the only real black spot of the title on the technical part. For the rest, it is a faultless one and even if some would have hoped for further graphics, World has benefited from a remarkable finish that must be taken into account in the resources mobilized to turn the beast.
The poles and elements of the decorations are destructible, the circuits are affected by the weather and the day-night cycle and many interactions make the formula even more unpredictable to each part. Returning to full speed in some railings will make you fall into a vacuum. Many characters from Nintendo's universe also spice up the formula. Here flying ladybugs, there Thwomps are dammed in the middle of the road, ostriches, zebras and even dinosaurs are part of the circuits like as many enemies or potential obstacles. As a bonus, there are 24 players displayed on the screen, which allows for endless brothel possibilities, especially online. The animations, big highlight of the previous opus, have been reworked again with a range of facial expressions that force respect. Seeing the trick of Donkey Kong staring at us when we double it inside of a turn is always as hairy. You will understand, the game is much more alive than the previous opus. An organic game as they say in commercial jargon.
First conceived as an open world, World naturally offers XXL-sized races with sometimes wider and vertical tracks with many escape possibilities. And it is on this point that what seemed to be a gimmick at the beginning profoundly changes how to understand the gameplay. In fact, this new opus allows us to slide on railings and elements of the decor, as if Nintendo was preparing us for Kirby Air Ride, next game of Sakurai. If one does not necessarily gain speed, or even lose time compared to a tight turn, this addition upsets driving. First one is more easily protected from shelling when hidden in the air, even if the operation is not without risks. Another pilot on your track can just as well catch you by pushing the fungus, which will remove you from the rail and rush you into a vacuum.
However, parades exist and it is quite possible to fly in all directions to escape at the last moment or to reach another slide. But it doesn't stop there, this mechanics is doubled by the possibility of rolling on the walls with a loaded jump resting on the same trigger as the skid. This makes it possible to reach certain slides in height or even to roll insolently vertically. And you don't think that's a big deal. It is only after tens of hours that we end up deconstructing everything that Mario Kart knew to reread the tracks from another angle. We find ourselves looking for all the potential leads to reach heights. Thus, the time trial mode takes on another dimension. In the image of the Super Nintendo opus, where it was possible with a good well-placed fungus to use springboards to pass over the vacuum and look for the perfect bounce to cut the tracks, World offers inventive gameplay perspectives.
What's more greying on-line than following more experienced players on walls to discover passages that we never thought of? If the « Snake » – honored by some, adulated by others – differentiates experienced players from novices on the DS episode, the ride gets closer in World. Mastering this mechanics will increase your chances of survival to 24 players by allowing you to get out of the mix. Better, developers reward taking the risk of a light boost at each jump with the ability to bounce on poles, bells or cars by pressing the trigger stack at the time of impact. This gives quite crazy sequences and totally impossible to accomplish in the previous opus of the franchise.
No doubt the most diligent players will find combos that even developers have not thought of. We constantly surprise ourselves, learning from our mistakes, to find the impossible path. This mechanics also allows you to take even tighter turns per place. For example, it is possible to throw itself squarely into the void to catch up with the route wall and then join the road to surprise the opponent in full flight. The exit is no longer always synonymous with failure, which is a small revolution in itself.
To push players to experiment, Nintendo added another confusing feature at the beginning. With a simple pressure of the directional cross, it is possible to go back as if you were pressing a remote control, a mechanic that is so useful in Trial mode to resume a failed jump and perfect your strategy. Smart. Once it is not customary, you feel the influence of Zelda Breath of The Wild on the sandbox side of a gameplay primarily designed as a thousand-sheet. In addition to the playful side, let's say frankly, it's also the opportunity to type with a rare insolence. And that's no price!
No more underwater races, some tracks also take place almost entirely on the surface of the water. Karts and motorcycles turn into simili jet-skis and the sea carries waves that will have to be exploited to have a light boost. The float generated by the swell also changes the conduct. Again, attention to detail amazes the player. When a blue shell sinks on the water, it generates like a shock wave and a small tsunami that will again allow to throw itself into the air.
Maxi best-off menu
Apart from these unexpected additions, Nintendo surprised us with its many new items and which, too, change the approach to the game. A golden carapace leaves behind its road a line of precious gold coins that will slightly increase the speed of the karts. It should also be noted that the maximum number of pieces increases from 10 to 20. It's inflation, even in Mario Kart! On this point in 150CC, the game enjoys a correct playing speed thanks to the many possibilities offered by wall ride and slide, even if an extra bit of speed would not have been refused. It is hoped that a 200CC mode will be one of Nintendo's projects. On the larger tracks in particular, there is no doubt that the 200CC would bring peps to the whole. If nothing is announced for the moment, we bet Nintendo will think about it in the long run, once the players get used to the formula.
Surprised too, the items are automatically behind us, without being pressed on the trigger. It doesn't look like that, but it changes the balance of defense. Too bad we can't trade our items in reserve, option gone since Double Dash, released on Gamecube 22 years ago! The traditional hammer throws enjoyed by the Marto brothers allow three uses in gusts. Fire balls like ice are also on the menu. The giant fungus allows to crush our opponents with a speed gain similar to the star. More surprising, the feather makes it possible to make a dizzying jump. If one wonders what it's for at the start, in addition to the possibility of reaching the heights, it's very useful to jump over a red carapace with our kits, which will continue its route to the next kart. Nintendo plays the dirty card with this episode. The art of the green shell takes a new turn with the possibility to send them in all directions. Nothing more cruel than throwing the shell on the side of an opponent's elbow-to-neck.
In addition to these additions, many rebalancing changes our habits. We'll only regret that the bob-bombs were nervous. Now we can no longer adjust the distance to launch, which reduces the windows of direct shots, a technique erected in art in episode DS. To this is also added a curiosity. Our characters can now drive to graze a big-mac, takoyaki and other well-fatted dishes to enjoy a light boost while allowing to unblock outfits. There's a total of a hundred of them in front of your friends in multi.
In addition, one of the most fun new items is the crystal ball. Once consumed, it allows to invoke Bowser's faithful acolyte, Kamek. The latter will disturb all the competitors in front of you. Kamek can throw bombs into the circuit from his broom, turn the players into monsters for a short moment or invoke a herd of cows, giraffes or goombas with dozens of other variants, making each game unique. Since Mario Odyssey, Nintendo no longer hesitates to mix fictional and real universes. Crossing penguins and cheese cheeses on the same race is quite confusing at first but we do it very quickly. As for Smash, would Nintendo now be open to additions of foreign characters to his jealously protected universe? The question remains open. Cherry on the cake, it is even possible to avoid the blue shells with a fungus consumed pile at the time of impact. Italian class!
New game, new modes
Apart from the actual gameplay, the gamedesign of this Mario Kart is based on the logic of an open world with maps interconnected between them and which have been thought of as one world to travel through. This change shakes the traditional great price still available but which is now less interesting than modes versus survival. The first allows you to choose several races in a row according to their geographical positions accessible from the game map. The second is to chain five races without dead time with successive eliminations if the intermediate stages are not completed in time. This new mode is defiantly stressful in multi. It's probably the way we play that most upsets our habits since the first episode released in 1992. The rhythm is frantic and we really wait to play it in 200CC.
In line, the level is high and it is a real butcher shop. It is all the more cruel as successive eliminations cause the last of each group to end up with particularly devastating items, making the fall of the first ropes much more punitive. It's very funny for if we accept the unfair side of such a mode. Fortunately Nintendo has integrated the risk of zizania to 24 players and remission after taking an object is much faster. Same for the much longer invincibility window. Nevertheless, we regret that Nintendo does not leave the possibility to play 12, 18 or 24 players on multi game modes. This would allow to modulate the degree of brothel according to the desire of the moment. This is the main criticism addressed to this new episode from a long-term perspective. We also find the traditional Battle mode, which, without the 200CC, remains a bit plan. In addition, Nintendo has more or less assumed its free mode entitled « Walk » and where one can explore the entire world of World without interruptions. Attractive on paper, this mode allows you to navigate sections that are otherwise unreachable on other modes and to meet challenges, with a rather limited interest so far. Peach gold coins and costumes can be collected by finding some questions and menus at fast food.
The hiccups, the challenges are too low and the empty world makes the journeys boring. A carrot is missing to push the community to explore the place. One feels that Nintendo was not completely comfortable with this walk mode that does not appear explicitly on the menu. You have to press the + button to play it, as if the Japanese firm was not yet completely satisfied with this mode. However, if Nintendo seeks to increase its content over the long term, this base could serve as a ground for experimentation with other forms of play. How about imagining a sort of big free slam up to a specific point, for example? This « walk » would have gained in interest if it had been scripted as the adventure modes of the competing franchises, Diddy Kong and Crash Team Racing. Nintendo has all the cards in hand for the future.
Failing to be exciting, the walk mode serves as a waiting room for the online game which, in passing, works without notable lacs, nor endless tails. Finally, a summary but effective photo mode will allow you to record your most beautiful moments, even if the capture remains locked at 30 seconds. It will also be regretted that Switch 2 records these clips at only 30 FPS in 1080p with a flow rate of 9,000 kbbs. This is certainly more than what the first Switch proposed, with 720p at 30 FPS for 4380 kbps, but it remains much less than what competition with native capture offers. Last regret, the OST seemed far less original and inspired than the previous opus. While it is necessary to recognize the work done to arrange the themes between the uninterrupted tracks of the Survival mode, the ensemble gives the impression of being much less warm than the jazzy compositions of Mario Kart 8. One of the themes even tended towards cheap house, making us bleed our ears. With the exception of this music, the rest lack bass and fantasy. Surprising from Nintendo...
Is Mario Kart World better than his predecessor? Yes and no! With about thirty pleasant circuits to travel, the Swich 2 killer app does not have to blush comparison. Circuit reviews and especially variations and interconnections allow for varying pleasures. The addition of the Survival mode is an excellent initiative, even if, at the time when its lines are written, we have some reservations about its balance, the fault of objects may be too powerful for the last of the peloton. These elements could hopefully be corrected with a patch to choose the number of players and the degree of power of the accessible items. At a great price, however, the game does not suffer from the same imbalance, which is a bit frustrating because the formula of survival mode makes less attractive the one we knew so far in great price. However, Mario Kart World is a small revolution for frankness, whether it be its opening dimension or the possibility of jumping on walls. Like the last Mario and Zelda, World leaves a great part to experimentation and imagination. The attention to detail is remarkable enough to make each part unique. Still a 200 CC mode that will most certainly date the day it will be available, hoping it will be part of Nintendo's projects. World is not a cloned beast of the eighth episode that synthesized all the previous opus. The direction chosen by Big N almost seems to be that of a reboot, reconsidering the retro cards and the news
For
- Is Mario Kart World better than his predecessor? Yes and no! With about thirty pleasant circuits to travel, the Swich 2 killer app does not have to blush comparison. Circuit reviews and especially variations and interconnections allow for varying pleasures. The addition of the Survival mode is an excellent initiative, even if, at the time when its lines are written, we have some reservations about its balance, the fault of objects may be too powerful for the last of the peloton. These elements could hopefully be corrected with a patch to choose the number of players and the degree of power of the accessible items. At a great price, however, the game does not suffer from the same imbalance, which is a bit frustrating because the formula of survival mode makes less attractive the one we knew so far in great price. However, Mario Kart World is a small revolution for frankness, whether it be its opening dimension or the possibility of jumping on walls. Like the last Mario and Zelda, World leaves a great part to experimentation and imagination. The attention to detail is remarkable enough to make each part unique. Still a 200 CC mode that will most certainly date the day it will be available, hoping it will be part of Nintendo's projects. World is not a cloned beast of the eighth episode that synthesized all the previous opus. The direction chosen by Big N almost seems to be that of a reboot, reconsidering the retro cards and the news
- Seductive graphics
- Successful artistic direction
- 60 FPS...
- Stable performance
- Rich and varied circuits
- The amazing side of the gameplay
- A ton of secret passages
- Wall ride
- The slide system
- NPCs on maps
- Survival mode...
- 24 players
- Costumes in a mess
- An impressive number of drivers
- Stable online mode
- Nice photo mode
Against
- Compatible Gamecube controllers
- 30 fps to more than two players
- Bracketed video capture
- Dispensable Battle Mode
- No real solo adventure mode
- End of card customization
- The nerved bob-ombs
- Disappointing OST
- The price of gambling
- No solid multi stats
- Cannot limit number of players
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